Introduction to Auroring
by whippy
Summary: Silly short fic that can be considered background for Blood of Mud, Wing of Bat. Ginny/Pansy.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. This was written for fun and no copyright infringement is intended. 

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A/N: A number of people noticed the Ginny and Pansy connection in my other story "Mud of Blood, Wing of Bat". Here is how that all originally started.... 

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Introduction to Auroring 

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The classroom was nearly deserted. No teacher stood at the front, despite it being nearly halfway through the hour. The only two students in the room, Ginny Weasley and Pansy Parkinson, sat at opposite ends of a long stone work table staring at each other suspiciously. They were both wondering why they were the only two there, and why the teacher hadn't shown up yet. At least they didn't have to wonder if they were in the right place; the blackboard had neatly written on it "INTRODUCTION TO AURORING" and under that, "Hi, I'm Mr. Flaherty". 

The silence extended for two more minutes and forty-five seconds. Then: 

"What are you looking at, Weasley?" demanded Pansy rudely. 

"You," retorted Ginny automatically. It probably wasn't that good an idea to antagonize a student a year older than her, but Ginny had inherited the Weasley rashness. 

"Well, you'd better cut it out, or I'll come over there and kick your butt," said Pansy. 

"I'd like to see you try," said Ginny, who had grown up in fistfights with six older brothers and was the tallest girl in the school besides. "So, what are you doing here anyway? Like they'd let a Death Eater like you be an Auror." 

Pansy sneered at her. "Oh, and they'd accept you when the've rejected all your weaselly brothers?" 

"None of them even applied to be an Auror!" said Ginny hotly. "You shouldn't talk if you don't know what you're talking about." She was overly sensitive about the fact that, as the youngest family member, she couldn't do any of the more obvious things with her life without having to follow in one of her brothers' footsteps. That none of them had considered becoming an Auror was part of the attraction. 

"_I_ don't know what I'm talking about?" repeated Pansy in disbelief. "You should talk. Who ever heard of a 15 year old Death Eater?" 

"Hmmphh I'm proud I don't know anything about that. I bet _you_ know all about it though, _Parkinson,_" said Ginny. 

Pansy snarled, then in a sudden fit of violence she grabbed up her Transfigurations textbook and hurled it at Ginny's head. Ginny ducked and the book slammed to the floor, skidding into the opposite corner. 

"Honestly, you babble as much as Draco," exclaimed Pansy. "And I thought by taking this class I could escape all that." 

"Draco?" Ginny was stunned. "You're comparing me to that that." 

While Ginny struggled to come up with a suitable epithet, Pansy seemed to realize her slip. Her face contorted in a grimace. "Forget it." 

"that puny little ferret-faced -" 

"I said forget it!" 

----- 

There was a long silence, lasting several minutes. Ginny watched Pansy become engrossed in her Potions textbook, thinking _trust a Slytherin to actually like that class._

Ginny had her book bag with her but she honestly didn't feel like studying. For one thing, she never studied by herself. She always studied with her dormmates or her boyfriend Colin Creevy. It was just too boring otherwise. And she liked studying to music. Silence made her fidgety. 

Also, she was hungry. Really hungry. Lunch was right after their class was supposed to be over. She'd been hungry all morning and sitting around doing nothing just made her stomach gurgle more loudly and concentrating on something as boring as homework was completely out of the question. 

But besides all that, she couldn't just ignore the fact that Pansy Parkinson was sitting right there. Ginny was a terribly social person by nature and couldn't bear to not interact with someone no matter who it was. (The exception to this was Harry Potter; she couldn't even look at him half the time, much less speak in his presence. The case of acute shyness Harry caused in her was a source of great mirth for the rest of her family, and anyone else who knew her really well.) 

----- 

"Did you really take this class to get away from Draco?" Ginny asked finally. 

"Do you ever shut up?" asked Pansy, exasperated. She slammed her book shut. 

"I asked you first." 

"And I suppose you took this class to get away from Harry Potter," Pansy sneered. 

"I'm _dating_ Colin Creevy, if you hadn't noticed." 

"That Potter suckup?" snorted Pansy. "Isn't he just a substitute for the Boy Who Doesn't Date His Best Friend's Little Sister?" 

Ginny went livid and stuttered incoherently. "I you that's." 

"Uh huh, that's what I thought," said Pansy with satisfaction. "Why don't you study or something instead of bothering me?" 

"I took this class to get away from studying," Ginny riposted. 

"Now you really sound like Draco," pouted Pansy. "I'm going to ask for a transfer." 

Ginny mouthed "I'm going to ask for a transfer" in insulting imitation, but Pansy ignored her, concentrating on her textbook. 

Ginny sighed. 

---- 

Ten long minutes passed, while Ginny squirmed in her seat, stared at the words on the blackboard, and listened to Pansy huff under her breath, mutter phrases from the book, and turn pages. All she could think about was food. Big, platters of food and golden plates that filled themselves automatically. Soon she would be at lunch if only this interminable class would end. After the ten minutes were up, Ginny couldn't take it any more. 

"Don't you ever get bored of Draco talking about himself constantly?" she asked suddenly, breaking the silence. 

Pansy looked at her. "He doesn't _always_ talk about himself." 

"Yeah he does. He's always bragging about his dad, his money, and how he got on the Quidditch team -- speaking of his dad and money." 

"Hey, Draco is a good Seeker," said Pansy. "He could have gotten on the team anyway." 

"Good Seeker? Are you kidding me? There's a lot more to being a Seeker than being shorter than most girls and having a weakness for shiny objects. Has he ever caught a Snitch ever in his entire life? Without using _Accio_, I mean." 

"Of course he has!" exclaimed Pansy, but she turned somewhat red as she said so. 

"Uh-huh. I meant during a game that mattered. Not backyard Quidditch." 

"He's never lost a game against Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw," said Pansy. 

Ginny giggled. "Hufflepuff? You're comparing him to the _Hufflepuff_ Seeker?" 

Pansy scowled. "Yes I mean no! Why don't you leave me alone, Weasley? I don't care what you think anyway." 

"I was just curious," said Ginny. "I don't know why you had to get so defensive about it. I mean, you said yourself he talks too much." 

"As do you," said Pansy, through her teeth. "As do you." 

---- 

Another silence ensued. Ginny kicked her feet, making scuffing noises on the floor, and noticed how Pansy was finding that very distracting. She grinned to herself, then scowled as her stomach growled again. She'd been hungry often enough at the Burrow because her family didn't have much money. But that was before she'd hit her teenage growth spurt. _That_ had been hungry. _This_ was ravenous. How could she ever make it through until lunch? The seconds ticked on and on until finally she had to do something to distract herself. She pulled out her wand and levitated Pansy's fallen Transformation textbook from the corner over to herself. 

Pansy glared over at her. 

"Give it back!" 

"No," said Ginny, just to see what Pansy would do. 

"I said, give it back!" Pansy hissed. 

"Only if you answer a question," said Ginny. 

Pansy rolled her eyes. "God, you are _so_ annoying." 

Ginny grinned in response. "Have you ever considered dating any other boys besides Draco?" 

"Honestly, Weasley, not that it's any of your business, but I don't like boys and I probably never will. Now give it here." 

Ginny's mouth dropped open in surprise. She pushed the book toward Pansy without paying much attention to what she was doing. 

"Well if you don't like boys, why are you dating Draco then?" 

Pansy reached for her book, smirking at Ginny's expression. "Nuh-uh, it's my turn now. Do you and Creevy ever talk about anything besides Harry Potter?" 

Ginny's mouth couldn't fall open any farther than it was, so she just sat there struck speechless. 

"I mean," continued Pansy, "aren't you sick of it by now? 

"We do _not_ talk about Harry!" Ginny finally managed to find her voice. 

"That's probably why you two got together in the first place," said Pansy. "I mean, who else would have you? This way it works out since you're both obsessed, and you can talk Harry Potter all night." 

"We do not!" exclaimed Ginny with increasing panic. It was, in fact, quite true. They didn't have much in common besides an obsession about Harry. But she hadn't realized people actually _knew._

"Did you know," said Pansy, "That when you freak out you look like heh heh a big, pink, stork?" 

Ginny immediately did turn flamingo-pink, clashing horribly with her carroty hair. Not only was she the tallest girl in the school, she was taller than most of the boys too. This had meant not a single boy had asked her out on a date. Even with Colin, she'd had to do the asking. "You shut up!" she yelled. 

Pansy smirked, pleased by the bulls-eye hit. 

But Ginny still had her wand in her hand. Ginny looked at her wand, then back at Pansy. Pansy's smirk vanished. 

_"Schnozzulus Globulus!"_ yelled Ginny, aiming, and Pansy's nose suddenly grew to three times its normal size. Ginny burst out laughing as the older girl gasped and grabbed her proboscis. Then Pansy snarled and grabbed for her own wand. 

_Uh oh,_ thought Ginny. 

But then.... 

---- 

She had just raised her wand to defend herself when the door burst open. Ginny and Pansy both panicked and hid their wands, thinking it was their Auror come to teach the class at last. 

But it wasn't an Auror, it was Professor McGonagall. She looked pale and shocked. 

"I'm afraid there's some bad news, girls," she told them. "Mr. Flaherty was called away to handle an emergency and he's dead. I'm sorry, there won't be any class today." 

They both stared at her, stunned. 

"Dead?" stammered Ginny. "But how?" 

"He was assisting in the arrest of a wanted fugitive and was struck by a Dark curse." 

"Which one?" asked Pansy, at the same time as Ginny blurted, "Are we going to get a new teacher?" 

McGonagall took a moment to decipher their entangled questions. "Yes," she told Ginny, "a new teacher will be found for you before next week's class." She gave Pansy a stern frown. "Are you asking which fugitive, or which Dark curse?" 

Pansy gulped. "Er not that I would know who or what nevermind," she said weakly. 

"My lord! What on earth happened to your nose?" exclaimed McGonagall, peering in horror at Pansy's face. 

Pansy blushed bright red. "She -" 

"We were just bored," said Ginny quickly. "And doing our homework. See?" She pointed ingeniously at Pansy's Transfiguration text. 

McGonagall peered suspiciously at both of them. Pansy looked furious, but closed her mouth and didn't argue. She probably wasn't keen on doing a detention for duelling, and McGonagall was not known for favoring Slytherins. 

"I don't remember that being on the curriculum for either of your years," sniffed McGonagall. "At any rate, class is cancelled. You may both go to lunch." 

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," murmured the two girls in synchrony. 

----- 

When the professor had left, leaving the door open to the deserted hallway, there was a moment of silence. The moment grew into a minute, and then several minutes. Pansy and Ginny looked at the neat writing on the board. It gave Ginny the creeps and it looked like Pansy felt the same. 

"Wow, I can't believe he's just dead," Ginny said finally. "And we never even met him!" 

"Hell of a way to be introduced to Auroring," said Pansy. "The first day we get a demonstration that Aurors can get killed at any moment right out of the blue." 

Ginny shot Pansy a disbelieving look. "You don't actually want to _be_ an Auror do you?" 

Pansy immediately became defensive. "So what if I do?" 

"I thought you only took the class to get away from Draco." 

"That was a joke, you little twit. I've been betrothed to him since we were both six. Why would I be trying to get away from him? Anyway, I thought you took this class to get away from studying. Why are you so eager to get a new professor?" 

Ginny blushed despite herself. "I uh." 

"Anyway, what's wrong with me thinking about being an Auror? Do you mind?" 

"No," said Ginny. 

"Good," Pansy growled. She produced her wand from her bodice, where she had hastily jammed it upon McGonagall's appearance. She pointed it at her own face. _"Beakius Tweakius!"_ Her nose shrank to normal size. She nodded to herself, paused, then her eyes travelled over to Ginny. 

"Oh, shit!" yelped Ginny. She snatched her wand from under her book bag. 

_"Pustulus Eruptus!"_ spat Pansy, pointing at Ginny. 

_"Claris Dermis!"_ Ginny managed to get the counterspell out just in time. 

_"Zitpockius Gatling --"_ Pansy began again, but Ginny was faster. 

_"Caninus Pugfuglius!"_

"Arf! Arf?!?!?" 

Ginny doubled over in hysterical laughter as Pansy was transformed into an ugly little pug-faced dog. 

"Grrr bowWowwowbar ar ar Garr yroW!" exploded the dog furiously, trying to give Ginny a piece of its mind. This only made her laugh harder. She aimed her wand again and the dog suddenly realized now would be a good time to leave. It turned and bolted out of the room as if its curly little tail was on fire. 

"Hey wait!" called Ginny. "I'm not done yet!" 

----- 

Ginny threw her book bag onto her back and set off in pursuit. Even before she'd made it to the Great Hall she could hear great roars of laughter. As she entered, she saw the pug trying to clamber up onto Draco's lap. The blond-haired boy jumped up in horror, dumping the animal onto the ground. "What the. Get it off me!" he squeaked. He tried to back away as the pug frantically jumped up and down, standing on its hind legs and pawing him. The entire Great Hall was helpless with shrieks of hilarity. 

Smiling to herself, Ginny made her way to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Hermione. "So, how was Introduction to Auroring?" the other girl asked her, having to shout to be heard over the mayhem. "Still sound like something you might want to do?" 

"Our teacher got murdered and Pansy Parkinson was the only other student in the class. But I had fun!" Ginny yelled. 

"What?" yelled Hermione in confusion, obviously thinking she must have heard wrong. 

Ginny only grinned and began to pile food on her plate. She was really hungry. 

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A/N: Please review this story. Please? Pleeeeeeease? Also see my other story, Blood of Mud, Wing of Bat. It is longer and more serious than this one but does have some humor. 


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